 |
The story made Page One in Seattle's papers when Rudy Crew signed on to the University of Washington in January. He will lead the K-12 Leadership Institute just launched at UW. The former Tacoma superintendent is back in the Northwest after surviving more than four years as chancellor of the New York City schools — one of the roughest, toughest tests of leadership skill any administrator could face. In Seattle, a city still saddened by the loss of Stanford, comparisons between the two administrators "are unavoidable," the Times noted after Crew's arrival. The newspaper describes both as self-made men who pulled themselves up from humble beginnings to become charismatic, visionary leaders and passionate champions of children. Crew now has turned that passion toward preparing principals "to act more like entrepreneurs" instead of simply following the directives of the central office. UW's new institute will tackle principal training from a new angle, its creators say. Instead of bringing practitioners to the training, the institute will bring the training to the practitioners. The UW's institute was billed in early announcements as "a unique partnership between higher education and public schools that would move beyond certifying educators and bestowing degrees," the Times reported in January. "The institute would work with educators in the schools rather than in a university-class setting. Ongoing education research, at the UW and other places, would be integrated into the training." This "marriage" between research and practice is an important alliance. "It's not just about bringing hope to the table, but structuring a cogent, clear pathway between education research and practitioners," Crew told the Times. The institute will tailor its training to the needs of districts, says Louis Fox, Vice Provost for Educational Partnerships, the UW office that will house and operate the institute. "In the reform and accountability environment that we're in," says Fox, "some districts would be most interested in issues around low-performing schools, for instance. Other issues might be budget and finance. Here in Seattle, the district is talking about building genuine leadership teams at all 97 schools, made up of parents, teachers, and school leaders." And for pressing problems besetting schools, the institute will respond with "just-in-time" support, Fox says. "We want to be a resource that school leaders can begin to rely on when they encounter challenging situations." A network of principals and best practices will be yet another feature of the institute, as will residential academies for school leaders. Some programs will start this summer. The crisis in school leadership presents a national challenge that the UW K-12 Leadership Institute hopes to address. Coupled with a surge in principal and teacher retirements is a rise in enrollments that is putting even more pressure on the system. But in that growing crisis, Fox sees a chance for change. "It is probably one of the greatest opportunities that's been in front of American public education in a generation or longer," he says. "With new leaders and new teachers, you really have an opportunity to reinvent schooling. At this institution, we have decided that our focus in that arena is going to be on school leadership. We want to do it on a national scale."
| ||||
|
The New Principal Special Report:
| |||||
|
This document's URL is: Home | Up & Coming | Programs & Projects: Northwest Education | People | Products & Publications | Topics © 2001 Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory
Date of Last Update: 9/28/01 
|
